Puzzles
by whatevergirl
Summary: Vincent may have a job as a turk, but being friends with scientists can becomea regret when you are asked to babysit every spare minute of your day.Vincent has the joy of looking after the Hojo's child, who always seems to find trouble. Completed.
1. Prologue

_I am currently doing a sailor moon story, but I just couldn't resist doing this as well. _

_No real pairings in this, unless you could Hojo and Lucrecia, who I think are wonderful together. This is the prologue, and it has my version of childbirth._

_A bit of background? Well, it could be considered slightly AU. It takes place when Vincent was a turk. When he was about 21. The idea is that Sephiroth was born, Vincent was 20, and so Sephy is a toddler here. I decided Hojo and Lucrecia are married and probably a few years older than Vincent. They are both Vincent's good friends, rather than a man he hates and a love interest. It's not an idea I love._

_I did try to keep them in character, but bare in mind I have never played Dirge of Cerberus and this is set before ff7, to attitudes of certain characters may be different._

_Umm … yeah, if there is anything else you don't get, just ask and I'll try to explain it._

_Final Fantasy does not belong to me. No amount of wishing and daydreaming will ever change that. :-( _

_**Puzzles.**_

_**Prologue.**_

Vincent sighed. He had been sat in the hospital with Hojo for the whole morning; it was now nearly 1 in the afternoon. The man couldn't seem to sit still. He was pacing around all over the place. Though it was somewhat understandable. His wife had gone into labour at about 5 hours ago and their child still hadn't been born.

Vincent was bored. Vincent was really bored.

It was ridiculous. He didn't really need to be there, but Hojo wasn't letting him go. The man had clung to his arm when he had gone to get some tea from a vending machine.

Vincent sighed again and absently wondered if he could get away long enough to go find a book, or a newspaper.

XXX

Hojo took deep breaths. He was feeling rather nervous now. A child! Something that he helped to create, without the aid of a lab, without science or reports or anything like that.

But there were so many problems with childbirth; it made him wonder why there weren't more investigations into it. People figuring out how to make things occur perfectly. It couldn't be that hard. And the growth of a child; that would be most interesting to observe. He began to wonder if there was any way to accelerate the growth, to help people reach their maximum potentials before they reached an age when they were to old, tired, busy etc to do anything with them.

He wondered if they would need certain injections, to increase different levels of hormones and such in their bodies, or whether it could just be a mental thing, and the toys children played with while growing up and the stories they heard greatly affected how they were in later life.

The joys of having a child of his own. He could observe what makes a difference, and compare it to how other children grow. He would make his child better than every one else.

But then the man had a moment of nervous tension. His child could be born now. Would it be a little girl? Or a boy? His wife had refused to tell him what gender their child would be. Now, he could feel curiosity burning a hole in his mind, stopping him from thinking about things that usually occupied his attention for hours. He took a few more deep breaths and looked towards the double doors that gave no indication as to what was happening behind them.

XXX

She screamed. It hurt, a lot. The nurse beside was whispering gently, but it made no difference, Lucrecia could barely hear her.

"When you feel it pushing, that's when you push. Don't worry, it's quite a simple process, even if it hurts."

A tear trickled slowly down the side of her face. She glanced to her right, where she could see people moving blurrily. Her eyes were filled with tears, and her glasses were on one of the sides. She couldn't see very well.

She gasped as she began to push again. She flexed her fingers and whimpered, determined not to scream again.

A few moments later, she lay there, gasping softly but smiling. She had done it. A nurse helped wipe her eyes and handed her glasses over. Another nurse walked over, a small bundle in her arms.

She lowered it into Lucrecia's arms and smiled.

" A boy," she whispered, " a boy, who seems to be in good health. Congratulations."

The new mother smiled, and leaned against the pillows behind her. This was truly a wonderful moment. Something had occurred in this hospital, something which had been occurring for thousands of generations and was still the same. She believed that if something didn't change after such a length of time, there couldn't be anything too wrong with it. She may have disagreed earlier on that day, but now it was finished and in her arms laid a tiny child, she had changed her mind. The mere idea that something so small and fragile was entrusted to her care filled her with warmth.

She looked up and asked the nurse if she could she 2 people, Timothy; her husband, and Vincent; a good friend.

As one of the women walked out the room, Lucrecia looked back down at the small child and wished he would open his eyes. She wanted to know if he would have blue eyes, like she did, or brown eyes, like his father.

XXX

There you go. But listen, can you here the soft call of the review button? Answer it and tell me what you think.

Feel free to tell me if there is something drastically wrong, but please don't flame just because you don't like the idea. That makes me sad.

If there are any spelling mistakes/grammar mistakes, I'm sorry, I don't have a beta and I'm currently quite busy. (If you want to check it through, I'll happily agree). I think I've now corrected all my mistakes in the first 2 chapters though.

Hope you enjoyed it, if I get reviews, I'll try update soon.


	2. Holidays

_Oki, I decided to start another chapter before I do my housework. This is less than a year on, Sephy is about 10 months and it's the middle of summer. I know it's not as long as the other chapter thing, but there is only one P.O.V. in this bit._

_Still don't own Final Fantasy. I'll be sure to inform you if that changes!_

**_Chapter 1- Holidays._**

Vincent put his book on his knee and stretched. It was a very warm day, and he was in a park in of Mideel. He was on holiday, on of the very few proper holidays he got as a turk. Beside him, Sephiroth slept. The child looked like a baby angel, short tufts of silvery white hair upon his head, his thumb pressed against his lips (as Vincent had just removed it from his mouth), pale skin protected by the shade of a tree. But best of all, Sephiroth was silent. The child couldn't talk very well. He was still acquiring a language, but that didn't stop him trying. He could understand language and he was starting to do well with putting sentences together. Vincent was quite confused though. The little boy was advanced for his age. He could count to 37 and was starting to recognise letters on a page. Other children his age were saying things like 'bah-bah', which could mean 'want bottle 'or' bye bye or something, like that. It was very strange.

He was best at putting things together though. Jigsaws he was very good at! (Child ones though, he couldn't do ones with more than 100 pieces.) The boy loved them, his emerald eyes would shine with joy when Vincent pulled one out and he would squeal happily.

The young man smiled as he lay against the tree. The boy had very much become a part of his life. He even had a room in his apartment. Lu and Hojo always seemed to be busy with one experiment or another and Vincent had agreed to look after their son. As loving as parents could be, when they got absorbed in something, it would take up their every thought. This was not fair on the child, who clearly loved having company.

When Vincent had bought him a teddy, anyone who knocked one the door got a hyperactive child who wanted everyone to meet his cuddly toy, crawling over to them and hitting their leg. He could walk, he had started at about 8 months, which was just a bit early, but the child was happier crawling.

Vincent then frowned. He was pretty sure Hojo was giving Sephiroth some kind of injections, but when he had asked Lucrecia, she had glared at him and hissed Hojo was looking out for their child. The child was very advanced in his mind but on the outside he was still a baby, a baby who had just woken up.

The little boy laughed and held his arms up. Vincent placed the boy onto his lap and grabbed his bag. It was time to get something to eat. Sephy had started on solids not too long ago; so making sure things were the right size so he wouldn't choke on them was a concern for Vincent.

As Vincent began eating his own meal, he got a baby cup chucked at the side of his head. He sighed. Generally, this meant the boy wanted to play peek-a-boo. He shifted and desperately hoped none of his work colleagues had come here for a holiday as well.

Peek-a-boo was not an intimidating game. Turks were meant to be intimidating. The two just didn't mix, and the games Sephy liked to play were slightly embarrassing, especially this one. At least the joys of teething had settled down.

Giving his sandwich one last longing glance, Vincent began to play with Sephiroth Hojo.

XXX

There you go! Another chapter done, and so soon:-O

Well, I rather enjoyed writing that chapter. It is hard to keep Vincent in character, everyone acts differently around babies, but I tried. Any tips on how to do it? I'll listen.

And any mistakes, please tell me!

Thanks a lot.


	3. Birthdays

_Oki, time for another chapter, I think! ♥_

_But bare in mind, I'm not amazing with how children act at certain ages. _

_Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Reviews make me happy! When I am happy I feel like typing. (And today I got my AS level results back! I passed everything! Woot!)_

_Anyway, best get on with it! Enjoy:-)_

_I STILL don't own Final Fantasy, so you have nothing to worry about._

_**Chapter 2 – Birthdays.**_

Vincent smiled as he watched little Sephiroth explore his living room. The boy loved looking places, determined so see everything without being carried. Not that Vincent was worried; he couldn't go very quickly and preferred to be holding someone's hand while he walked.

It was Sephy's birthday today. He was a whole one, not that the boy had even a vague understanding of it. Vincent considered it a shame, as his mother had gone to ridiculous lengths to see that Sephiroth birthday was celebrated that day. She had even screamed enough to get President Shin-Ra to postpone a conference by a day or two, so Hojo could be there.

Vincent grinned; she had done the same for him as well. He was meant to be going away on a mission next month, but she had changed that because it would interfere with his 21st birthday, and Lu liked everything to be just right, which meant that things couldn't be celebrated after the occasion.

Not that he was complaining. He wasn't all that fond of Junon anyway. All it meant was he would have to go do body guarding next time Shin-Ra went away. He smirked, that was easy and a few of his turk colleagues didn't like him that much because he was basically second in command (after the turk leader), and he wasn't all that old.

" As long as you don't hurt yourself, or throw another tantrum, everything will be great! Won't it Sephy?" he called out to the wandering toddler.

Sephiroth looked up, laughed and held out his arms.

XXX

" Have I forgotten anything? Umm … not that I can think of. Let's see, drinks? Check! Food? Check! A present? Check! Hmm … I'm sure I've forgotten something."

Timothy Hojo raised his eyes to look at his wife, who was pacing around the room with a notebook in her hand and was mumbling under her breath.

"Don't worry," he called out. " We can always jog over to the shops if we think of something later!"

Lucrecia stopped and looked at him in horror. Before she shook her head and went back to walking around the room.

Hojo sighed. Sephiroth really wouldn't care whether or not they forgot something, so he failed to see why she was getting so worked up over this. Although, it was an amazing thing. With out too much effort, Sephiroth had grown so much over the past year, and he was far better than other children his age. He had watched his son in the nursery at Shin-Ra HQ, when everyone was too busy to have him with them. The boy rushed through puzzles such as placing certain shapes in appropriate holes and he clearly loved them. He would laugh and clap when he finished them.

Hojo found himself grinning just thinking of it. He knew children were amazing things, but he didn't expect to find himself so won over by them. He definitely didn't expect to find them as cute and adorable as he did.

Hojo sighed and leant back. This party would be much better if Lu would allow at least some beer! The woman just didn't have heart, clearly. But he had seen the cake. He couldn't wait!

XXX

Lucrecia frowned. It looked like everything was ready. They even had a few guests here. She had invited all the people who were meant to be at the conference today. Professor Gast had been the first to agree. He loved children and he had arrived an hour ago. Much earlier than the others, but he had wanted to help her set everything up. Vincent was looking after her little birthday boy, like he usually did.

She looked over at her husband, who was lazing around in a chair, staring at the ceiling.

" I'm glad we have Vincent, it would be awful if our dear little Sephy had to send most of his time in a nursery, wouldn't it?"

"Huh?" Hojo glanced over at her, "hope you don't make this much fuss at his birthday as well, you know he hates it!"

" I was thinking though, maybe at Vincent's birthday, we shouldn't have any alcohol either. You are going away to northern continent the next day, and I don't want you on a coach trying to work when you have a hangover!"

Hojo looked at her blankly.

" As much as I love you, it's very worrying when I can't tell if you are being serious or not!"

XXX

And that is that. My next chapter is over. Hope you enjoyed it! ♥

Review and tell me what you thought. I find it easier if I know what you like and what you hate!


	4. Silence, silence anywhere?

_Right, another chapter. 'Fraid I'm not sure what this chapter is going to be about! Umm … never mind, hopefully it'll come out as I go along. Sorry if there are any typing errors, I'm trying my best._

_Oki, this chapter is set a bit after the other one, and it's in October._

_I don't own Final Fantasy … obviously._

_**Chapter 3 – Silence, silence anywhere?**_

Hojo grinned. Today would be a good day. Today would be an excellent day, but he clearly had to stop grinning. It was 7am and his wife was giving him a strange look. 7am is not a time to be smiling.

In their kitchen lay a present, wrapped in colourful paper. Inside the colourful paper? Vincent's gift! And not even his wife knew what it was. He had another one under his bed, but his wife would never know about that one! He sniggered and pulled himself out of bed.

XXX

When Vincent woke up, he had an odd feeling. It wasn't how he was used to waking up. Usually it was a baby screaming, a phone ringing or someone shouting. Today, his alarm was going off. It was very odd. Usually someone called him way before 8am to get him into work early. Being second in command wasn't exactly fun. Neither was being a near 24-hour babysitter.

The young man sat up, and froze. His head was swimming around all over the place. He had a headache.

"Must have had too much sleep." He grumbled, but moodiness was difficult. It was his birthday, and he felt a strange urge run to his door and check to see if he had received any cards in his post.

Vincent grinned, he could remember doing that every birthday when he was little. He would sit on the stairs from 6am and wait, and then when the post finally came (usually about 3 hours later) he would run around screaming. It was surprising his parents didn't get really irritated each time. However, they had always been wonderful. His father was a scientist, so he was usually at work. His mother had been a teacher, so she had spent a lot of her time with other children. Vincent had never seen them much, but he nearly always got to spend loads of time with them on his birthday! Excluding the time he spent in school.

The cold fingers of nervousness crept up Vincent's spine as he realised that as it was his 21st, he probably wouldn't just get a few mumbled 'happy birthday's. Especially not as Shin-Ra and his other bosses had been grinning every time he came in the room.

Hopefully, they weren't plotting anything too bad!

XXX

Hojo dawdled around the office, making sure everything was in order. Lu had gone to put Sephy in the nursery, so someone had to keep people in line. He had decided he was just the man to do this! He wasn't too fussed about a party for a 1-year-old baby, but Vincent was 20 years ahead of that! He was well aware of what happened around him and therefore Hojo was determined his best friend's party would be wonderful. Even if the real party didn't start till about 10pm, as his wife had forbidden any alcohol here. She had even intimidated the president into agreeing to the no alcohol rule; something which should not be easily dismissed, as Shin-Ra was on the verge of being an alcoholic!

Vincent would go see little Sephy at lunchtime anyway. He always did, and a bit of peace and quiet wouldn't go far amiss with what would be happening here.

XXX

A few hours later, Vincent could be found sitting in the nursery talking to Sephiroth.

" They really are wonderful, but it's so exhausting. I think I might just go home now. I haven't got any work today, they made sure of that! Which is all good, but I wish they hadn't sung happy birthday to me quite so loudly. It's so embarrassing, I'm not used to it!!"

He sighed and put his head in his hands. They had been messing around and playing games for ages. The young man was, understandably, tempted to just go home and read a book, and then see what his gifts were.

He picked up the child, and his bags, and walked over to the desk. Putting his stuff down, he signed the little boy out.

XXX

Lu smiled. Her husband was sleeping at work, but she was sure he had kept his word about having no alcohol, as no one was vomiting in a corner.

Vincent had given her a quick call over the internal lines to say he was going back to his apartment, and had taken Sephy with him. She was glad the 2 got along so well, it made her life so much easier!

XXX

Vincent collapsed onto his bed. Sephiroth wiggled out of his arms and crawled over to the pillows.

Vincent sat up, and looked around. He had presents to open, and it appeared he had a silver-haired angel sleeping in a ball at the top of his bed. A soft smile graced his lips and he quietly picked up his bag and emptied it onto the bottom of his bed.

He shifted his legs so they were on his bed too, and began removing paper of whatever it was Lu had given him.

XXX

A few hours later, Vincent was fast asleep next to Sephiroth. On the floor, he had a bunch of chocolate and a few books from Hojo (including a book his wife probably didn't know he had bought), some videos of Lu, and some more general junk.

But Vincent was perfectly happy to have just spent his time with good people. Not that he cared at the moment, as he happily dreamed his Vincentish dreams.

But he had the joy, later on of getting drunk and waking up with no recollection of what had happened at the evening party Hojo arranged. Well, he woke up with that and Lu's hard glare.

XXX

Oki, that is that! Sorry I took so long to update.


	5. Tingling Jealousy

_Oki, updating. At last. Sorry for the massive gap! Broken hand ; _

_Anyway, Sephy is 3 in this. Vincent is 23. Hmm … just going to type it. Not got a total direction with this chapter. But I really want to do something again._

_And, just to remind you that Final Fantasy isn't mine. Though that goes without saying._

**Chapter 4 – Tingling jealousy.**

Sephiroth broke into a fit of giggles as he sat with his father. The man was in his lab with the boy. They were sat on the floor, surrounded by toys and books. There was also a large, soft blanket because even though Sephiroth was very developed for his age, he still fell over a lot. Then he would cry and sob; a reaction Hojo still struggled with.

His wife cried, but she was easily comforted by Hojo's presence. However, his son often seemed to prefer his good friend, Vincent. The man didn't want to seem jealous, but the way things were, he wished the bubbly child would be just as fond of him. However, spending a lot of time working meant they didn't get to spend as much time together as he would have liked. Still, his little boy was happy enough sitting and playing with him, so Hojo didn't like to complain.

There was no one else in the lab today; he had made sure of that before bringing the white haired child along. It was not a good idea to have people running around with dangerous chemicals when he had a toddler about. (And they did run, no matter how many times Hojo told them not to)

That was something else he envied Vincent over, if just slightly. Vincent gave an order and everyone obeyed, without fail. If he himself gave an order, people obeyed if it was convenient.

To a certain extent, Vincent also had a desk job. Therefore, it wasn't a hazard to sit Sephiroth in a corner with a few toys. So, even though his friend liked to complain about paperwork, the scientist couldn't stop the moody feeling that spread through his body when Vincent would happily tell him of his dear son's day. Not that Vincent always kept Sephy in the office, but as the child tended to upset the other children in the nursery by taking all the toys, people often tried to keep him away from there.

Hojo picked up his boy and carried him over to the edge of a table. There was time for a quick jab (how else was the child meant to be the best, if his father didn't help to the best of his own abilities) and then Vincent was coming to look after him.

This was something Hojo did not even almost envy Vincent over.

The poor young man had just got back from a rather dangerous job. He was in the infirmary now getting some stitches in. After that, he had to go explain to Shin-Ra why the man he was tracking had seen him in time to fight back.

The scientist felt that their boss was very harsh sometimes, expecting his Turks to have gained ninja like skills, regardless of whether or not they had got enough sleep. So now, Vincent had to explain why he and the Turk's leader had been attacked. From what the man had heard, the leader was in no state to be getting up and explaining himself anytime soon. And poor Vincent had to try to do so for him, even if his boss had been acting on instinct (a rather odd Turk idea, which seemed to be practised too much, in Hojo's opinion.)

XXX

Vincent hissed quietly in pain, as he shifted. Shin-Ra's chubby face had gone bright red in anger. However, it was Shin-Ra's son who was annoying Vincent. The boy was snorting away to himself with laughter. This was one of the days the raven-haired man wished he had listened to his father when he had been applying. Maybe he should have just joined the civilian's police force. Life would be much easier and he would be making up excuses for a man who lay dying in the infirmary.

There was no way his boss was going to pull through. The man had used materia (which had been confiscated) to make a total mess of his insides. He had been killed before the spell got to work properly on Vincent. They took calculated chances, which usually pulled off. But today's didn't. Vincent was aware that unless some form of a miracle occurred, he was soon going to be the new leader. A role he wasn't too fond of the idea of. It would mean more work and less play; which always resulted in moody Turk leaders.

Vincent was so busy fuming to himself that he nearly missed the 'dismissed' his wonderful boss choked out. The young man turned and stormed off to the labs, sending people scattering at the sight of his face. One young secretary tried smiling at him, and received a well practised and most sincere death glare for her troubles.

He seriously hoped Hojo had some spare time, so he could have his rare rant that was often very cathartic but more often very scary for those around.

But Hojo listened. He always did. And then he would take Sephy off his friend's hands and go for lunch with his father.

XXX

Oki, not that long. But my hand is still kinda sore. I have plenty of ideas (not necessarily good ones mind) so if you have anything you think will work, feel free to say. Or if I've made mistakes somewhere, do point 'em out.

_Or just plain review! They make me happy! :)_


	6. Another Beginning

_Woo, an update. Shock, horror and all that. Its ages since I've done anything with this... Over a year and a half... _

_Sephiroth is four in this, so Vincent is 24._

_

* * *

_

**Chapter 5 – Another Beginning**

Timothy Hojo was aware his friend was stressed. Over the last year, Vincent's life had changed so much and he was only adapting slowly. Vincent Valentine had been made Leader of the Turks last year. Vincent liked sitting with little Sephiroth though. They were good friends, and Sephiroth adored the Turk.

His friend often looked after his son on an evening. He'd take Sephiroth to his own flat to give him dinner and play, and then they'd head back for about 7 so Sephiroth could have a bath and go to bed. Sadly, that was when Vincent left. He and Lucy got to deal with the nightmares and bedwetting.

His own life had been stressful though. He'd found samples of what must be an ancient life form. He had been testing it on fiends and mutts, and it was very effective in raising their level of intelligence. He had been using a watered down version of it on his son for a few years now; it showed.

Sephiroth was far more intelligent than other children his ages, most of who were starting to speak in full sentences and counting to about 8 or 9. Sadly though, it was not working as well as it had. Hojo wondered if he could make it more concentrated. He wanted to, but his son was only 5. He didn't want to do anything dangerous.

The nature solution to this was to inject himself with the solution, and see what came to him. Hopefully some useful kind of brain wave. Hopefully...

Timothy Hojo flicked on his indicator and shifted down a gear to pull into the nursery car park.

* * *

Vincent grinned. The little boy before him was jumping up and down. He was excitedly shoving his crayon picture into his hands. There were four... figure... things. He assumed they were people.

"Tha's me, and you, and mommy, and daddy. See?"

"Really? Oh... I mean, of course. You're such a little artist."

"Yey. What's dinner?" the child skipped over to him and grasped his hand.

"What's for dinner? What do you want?"

"Umm... I 'unno..."

" 'unno? Well, what about a quiche?"

"What's that?" Sephiroth looked up at him, his large green eyes curious.

"Hmm... cheese, and onion, and mushroom, and tomato and anything else I can find. In pastry."

Sephiroth laughed happily. He loved cheese lots.

Vincent kept a tight hold of the boy's hand, and slung the little bag he had over his shoulder. They walked slowly along to the train station, to get back to his flat. Once on the train, Vincent collapsed into his chair. His ribs were bruised pretty badly. The problem with being with a highly active Turk was he tended to get injured. Sadly, someone had landed on him, just after he'd fallen. None too lightly either.

Unfortunately, when they were on the train, Sephiroth liked to sit in his lap and lean against him. The child climbed onto the seat beside him, his intentions clear.

"Why don't you sit next me? Not on me today."

"Ok." The boy grinned happily and grasped his hand. Vincent pushed his fair out his face and relaxed. This was good; so much better than work.

Work recently had been horrible. Two of his Turks were in hospital; one of them comatose. Veld was a massive help though. He helped with typing up the reports, so Vincent was free to follow up leads... in between reporting to their President.

The man was an intolerable idiot. He was impatient, constantly wanting progress. Sadly some things took time. He clearly did not understand this; Vincent had recently been wondering if Shin-Ra had enough enemies that an anonymous assassination attempt wouldn't come back to him...

Not only was he impatient, he was rude. Vincent had no interest in listening to men who swore too much. Nor men who would not listen to problems that they could solve.

He huffed quietly and wrapped an arm around the snuggling child.

* * *

After their dinner, Sephiroth sat and happily chatted to Vincent. He told him about his daddy saying they should go on holiday, possibly to Costa del Sol. His mummy wanted to go to Mideel. Vincent liked Mideel. He'd been there a few times; it was a very tranquil place.

He then set off telling him about Max. Max who had a dinosaur toy. This dinosaur toy was _really_ big. Sephiroth wanted a dinosaur toy, but daddy said dinosaurs weren't that interesting. What daddy was looking at for work was much better. But there weren't any toys of this. So a dinosaur toy was what he wanted.

Vincent smiled, he was glad Sephiroth was settling into his new nursery; One less Hojo to worry about. He was glad Lucy was good too. She was enjoying her work, but thankfully accepted Vincent didn't want to know.

Timothy Hojo was a major concern. Vincent wasn't sure what he did in his lab, but the man had been acting strange recently. He occasionally laughed away to himself. And other times he was completely blank. 'Lights on but no one's home' type expression.

Sephiroth was happily applying crayon to his colouring book. Vincent got up and began to do the dishes. He'd take Seph back soon. Once he'd gotten enough hugs.

* * *

_There, all done. Finally. =) _

_Sorry for the massive gap in updating... Anything to say? Let me know. Especially if I've made any mistakes or anything. (I know that this has nothing to do with DoC... I hadn't played it when I started this, so I'm ignoring it.)_


	7. Lost

_Last chapter. Can't really be bothered to keep thinking about it so I'm just going to finish it. All in Sephy's POV :D Sephiroth is 7. Please bear in mind I've not been 7 for a lot of years. I'm sorry if it doesn't sound quite right (I do work with 7 year olds so I don't think I'm too far off)_

_

* * *

_

**Chapter 6 – Lost**

Vincent wasn't here. That is all he knew. He'd been searching everywhere for him, but nothing. He'd asked his Dad, but he was busy. His Dad was called Timmy, or that's what his Mam called him. Sephiroth wasn't allowed to call his Dad 'Timmy'. It made him wear his unhappy face.

Sephiroth decided to do his school work. They were looking at summon beasts in the religion class. He wasn't sure if people thought they were gods or not... but they were pretty cool. He liked them. Miss Hayley was the teacher in her class. She was very nice. They weren't usually allowed to call teachers by their first name, but she said they would not be able to say her surname.

She was fun. He had to colour in the pictures of each of the beasts and say a bit about them. He was doing Ifrit and Shiva right now. He'd started Shiva in class, but had fallen asleep. That had not been nice. Miss Hayley had woke him up and he'd called her 'Mam'... Everyone there had laughed.

He was colouring Ifrit in with red. It would be amazing if he could go save Vincent. He must have been kidnapped by someone, like a princess in a story. That would be the only reason he wasn't here. Then his Dad could go save him, but not on a chocobo. His Dad didn't like them.

He'd stay behind with his Mam and they would bake cakes and bread. He liked baking stuff because he looked like a ghost when he was covered in flour. His Mam used to pick him up and make him fly around the room like a ghost, but she said he was too heavy now.

That was because he was growing. All children grow, and when he is done he will be a SOLDIER. He'll be the best one and then he will be able to keep safe his Mam, his Dad and his Vincent. He'll have a sword like the princes in the stories and he'll fight all the dragons and the fiends and it will be amazing.

But Vincent will be back by then; because his Dad will save him, unless his Dad is in a weird mood again. He sometimes daydreams a lot. His Dad has an invisible friend too. Sephiroth has one. He is very quiet and doesn't like anyone else except Vincent, and sometimes his Mam... but his Mam doesn't like him very much. He's called Charming, and he's going to teach Sephiroth to be a prince. His Mam says it's a silly idea, but Vincent likes to ask him questions. He makes Vincent smile, and both Sephiroth and Charming like it when Vincent smiles. It means he is happy. Happy usually means something yummy for dinner and a bubble bath with his toy boat.

He'll have to ask his Mam if he can have a bubble bath tonight. His Mam might know where Vincent is too. He decided to go ask her, but she was working in her office. He wasn't allowed in her office because last time he had coloured dinosaurs all over her papers. It wasn't fair. They needed pictures or no one would read them.

She said it was important work that would go to her boss, but she just didn't understand that her boss would look at all the writing and decide he would rather read about the king from Wutai... no, emperor. Wutai had Emperors, he'd been reading about it in class. Miss Hayley had picked him to read out page 3. It had a dragon on it, so Sephiroth had been happy.

His Mam had seen him hovering about the door though, and come over.

"Are you ok Honey?" he loved his Mam.

"Where's Vincent. I want a bubble bath and he has my boat."

"Oh..." His Mam looked very sad. He gave her a hug, because that is what you do when people are sad. "He'd not here anymore, Sephy."

"Where is he?" Maybe he'd moved away like his Mam's parents had. They could still go see him... he hoped he hadn't gone a long way away. He didn't like being in a car for long.

"He's... Gone back to the Lifestream. You can't see him anymore." Well, that was no good. Vincent took him to the park on Wednesdays.

"Can we go there to visit him?" his Mam hugged him tighter. It kind of hurt, but she was crying. He didn't want to see.

"I'm sorry, but he... he died. Oh god..."

"Was he sick?" His Dad's Mam had died because she was sick. He didn't like her though. She had called him a freak. It had made his Mam angry.

"No... It was... an accident. I'm sure."

"So, when is he coming back?"

"Sephiroth... he isn't... coming back..." His Mam was crying harder now, but Sephiroth gaped over her shoulder. Not coming back? That wasn't right. Vincent always came back. He'd just keep waiting. Vincent loved him and he always came back. They had to go to the park. They had nearly finished building a wooden boat to sail on the pond. It just needed painting and its sails adding.

"He'll be back." His Mam clearly just didn't realise this. He buried his face in her neck. People like Vincent didn't die.

"Do you want a sandwich? I have tuna for you."

"No..." He wouldn't eat until Vincent came back. The idea of him being gone forever was just silly. He sat on the floor and pulled his knees into his chest. His Mam went over to her bag and pulled out his juice. She put it on her desk and picked Sephiroth up.

He was finally in her office, on her knee. It didn't matter though. He'd just keep waiting until Vincent came back. He didn't want to draw dinosaurs right now. He scowled unhappily and cuddled into his Mam.

* * *

_Finished. I didn't want to do a chapter about Vincent's death from anyone else POV, so it was just Sephiroth. Hope you enjoyed it. It's all done. Please review and let me know what you think._


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